


jaws (but i don't bite)

by kaition



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Little Mermaid Elements, M/M, but its very mild angst i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 12:22:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15509784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaition/pseuds/kaition
Summary: “You have a tail,” he finally said, surprised by how calm he sounded in spite of everything.Kihyun raised an eyebrow at him, seemingly dissatisfied with Hoseok’s response. “I expected more of a reaction from you, if I’m being honest. It’s not every day that you meet someone with a tail.”





	jaws (but i don't bite)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fatherwon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatherwon/gifts).



> for my baby annie, who has been waiting for over a month for me to finish this,  
> thank you for having faith in me and for indulging in all my nonsense ♡
> 
> (also special kudos to lynn for being the best friend and beta i could ask for)

Hoseok swore that he didn’t need a break.

He knew he was notorious for overworking himself to the brink of exhaustion and insanity, but he didn’t feel the intervention his friends had staged for him was necessary. It wasn’t as if he was doing anything _overly_ drastic. It just so happened that his roommate and best friend had walked in on him about to smash his laptop screen into smithereens with a spoon, the ice cream tub he had been eating from left discarded on the ground.

But could they blame him? He accidentally closed his word document and having been so preoccupied with _actually finishing his essay_ , he hadn’t bothered to save it. Which essentially led to him losing about 2 hours of hard work.

The mental reminder of the incident made him grimace and he figured a break (albeit it being a waste of time, in his opinion) wasn’t the _worst_ thing they could have made him do. He also knew Minhyuk and Hyungwon would not take no for an answer, which was why he was currently on a bus heading to possibly the smallest seaside town his friends could find for his so-called “weekend getaway”.

They had also forcibly removed his laptop from him, telling him he would get it back once he returned, whilst reassuring him that he would have more than enough time to redo his essay. Hoseok silently mourned the loss of his child as he rested his head against the window, which was littered with a myriad of fingerprints and scratches.

He had left the comfort of his apartment as the sun had begun to rise and he could see it now, looming beyond the horizon, seemingly extending its rays out to touch every surface it could reach. Hoseok found his gaze drifting towards the direction of the sea and for a moment, he let a wave of serenity wash over himself. He had always loved the sea and thought it was such a shame that he never tried to fit a visit to the beach in his hometown in the midst of his hectic schedule.

Hoseok wondered if perhaps this break was long overdue.

 

 

 

Water lapped at his feet as Hoseok sat by the shore, small waves curling before him.

He had spared no instance upon checking into his hotel room, choosing to head straight to the ocean. The sounds of children yelling and splashing around in the water had dulled down the further he walked down the coastline. Hoseok had purposefully planted himself down in a secluded area of the beach, an attempt to isolate himself from the throngs of people.

He figured he was lucky to have an entire portion of the beach to himself but he supposed the “Beware of Sharks” sign he had passed by had something to do with it. Nevertheless, he was grateful for the momentary respite.

As he looked out at the sea, Hoseok knew the sign he passed was probably there for a reason and that it would be for the best if he heeded it, but the allure of the ocean was just too tempting. He pushed himself off the sandy ground and before he knew it, he was already hurtling towards the water with child-like glee, immersing himself in it without a smidge of hesitation.

He waded further out into sea and as he let himself be completely surrounded by crystalline waters, he couldn’t recall the last time he had felt so carefree.

 

 

 

Hoseok caught a glimpse of the movement in the water before he saw _it_.

The ominously familiar fin cutting through the surface of the water, heading straight for him. The gears in his head slowly turned before they clicked and it dawned upon him that he needed to get out of the water as fast as possible.

And he did.

Hoseok berated himself as he scrambled to get to safety. He really should have paid more attention to the damn sign.

It was only after he deemed that he was safely out of the ocean (and the man-eating creature's reach), that he dared to look back at where he had just come from. Confusion would have been an understatement of how he felt.

The shark was gone, as if it had disappeared into thin air and in its place was a boy with scarlet hair, shyly peeking at him from afar, the lower half of his body still submerged beneath the waves.

If Hoseok hadn’t been consumed with fear, he would have paused for a moment to stare at how _cute_ the boy was. But all that he could think about was the fact that the shark was most probably underwater, waiting to strike and attack the boy (of whom he had already dubbed as the potential love of his life) and he couldn’t let that happen.

Hoseok was aware that he had to do something and he had to do it _quickly_ , so like the hero he envisioned himself to be, he started to yell at the boy. Desperately telling him to get out of the water before the shark got to him. The boy tilted his head with a perplexed expression and Hoseok began to grow increasingly flustered because it wasn’t the right time for the boy to look so adorable when he could literally _die_ at any moment.

Ironically, it was at that very moment that the boy suddenly plunged under the water and Hoseok would have been mildly embarrassed by the shriek he let out if he wasn’t panicking. The shark fin resurfaced at that moment and he knew the boy didn’t stand a chance against that monster on his own. Hoseok concluded that he had to save the boy’s life as a surge of courage flowed through his veins.

Against his initial wishes, he dove back into the icy cold water and made his way towards the shark. It was only when he’d swum further out into sea that he realised he had no idea how to take on a shark and the fear set in once again.

He could vaguely remember hearing that punching a shark on the nose was the most effective course of action but as he got closer to it, his nerves got the best of him and he was left paralysed with the shark an arms width away from him.

The water in front of him stirred and Hoseok made up his mind at that very moment that he was going to punch it, he _had_ to do it for the boy, regardless of the risk it put him in.

He lifted his arm to deliver the blow and it was at that instant when the boy popped out of the water before him with a grin so bright it could rival the sun. “Hello!” was the word he chirped, his voice laced with pure joy.

Hoseok shrieked again.

 

 

 

The boy, who had introduced himself as Kihyun, slowly nudged him back towards the shore and gave him questioning looks every time he looked back in search of the shark that had seemingly vanished once again. Now that the two of them were supposedly out of harm's way, Hoseok would occasionally let his gaze linger upon the boy he was so insistent on rescuing.

Hoseok could hear the voice in his head saying that there was no way someone should be allowed to look so effortlessly gorgeous. Kihyun’s brilliantly red hair framed his features like a soft halo and he could recall how Kihyun had practically glowed as he emerged with water cascading off him earlier, like some sort of sea angel. As if said boy could feel Hoseok’s gaze on him, his eyes met Hoseok’s before he quickly turned away, a blush beginning to creep up his neck.

Hoseok was enthralled by the boy beside him but he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. He knew he would have noticed if someone else had joined him in the water. He knew he was probably overthinking the situation and he felt his worries dissipate as Kihyun lightly squeezed his hand, smiling up at him.

As they approached dry land, Hoseok immediately sped up and strode forward once his feet came in contact with wet sand, only pausing momentarily to stare at Kihyun, who lingered behind in the water.

Hoseok held out his hand for Kihyun to take but the other boy silently shook his head.

Confused, Hoseok pulled back his hand. “Aren’t you going to come out of the water?”

Once again, Kihyun shook his head.

“Why?”

Kihyun seemed to hesitate for a moment, his gaze shifting away from Hoseok.

“I can’t,” He said, almost in a whisper and Hoseok would have missed it if he wasn’t fully captivated by the boy in front of him.

Hoseok repeated his previous question and he watched as Kihyun moved further away from him. He was about to apologise, not wanting to push the boy to talk about something that clearly made him uncomfortable when he saw a flash of grey through the ripples in the water.

He looked down and he was met with a- _a tail?_

He blinked rapidly, thinking it was a hallucination but the tail still remained there and he traced up it, trying to find where it came from, leading him back into the water and back to-

_Oh._

He cleared his throat as Kihyun looked away sheepishly.

Hoseok felt his gaze wander back to Kihyun’s tail. He knew he was practically gawking at it by this point but he couldn’t help but marvel at how the sunlight seemed to reflect off it, giving it a gentle sheen. He looked back at the other boy and he thought that his tail suited him so well, it was just as pretty as he was.

“You have a tail,” he finally said, surprised by how calm he sounded in spite of everything.

Kihyun raised an eyebrow at him, seemingly dissatisfied with Hoseok’s response. “I expected more of a reaction from you, if I’m being honest. It’s not every day that you meet someone with a tail.”

Hoseok chuckled nervously, becoming increasingly unsure of his sanity with every passing moment. “It’s probably just the exhaustion kicking in.” He reasoned as he started to pace back and forth, trying to convince himself that there was a perfectly plausible reason as to why _Kihyun had a tail_.

“There’s no way that _that_ is real,” he concluded as he turned back to Kihyun, pointing at his tail.

Kihyun looked aghast, pulling his tail in towards himself, hugging it close to his body.

Hoseok would have continued to gape at his tail in awe if the movement hadn’t caused a spray of water to drench him at that very moment. There was a moment of silence before he heard Kihyun try to stifle his giggles. The red-head couldn’t hold it in anymore when Hoseok turned to pout angrily at him with droplets of water dripping off the tips of his hair, and the merman guffawed out loud .

The merman hid most of his face behind his hands but Hoseok could see his eyes gleaming with mirth. Kihyun eventually stopped laughing but he could see the smug grin the other boy was attempting to cover up as he asked, “Still don’t believe that my tail is real?”

 

 

 

Hoseok watched as Kihyun swam around in circles, occasionally gathering shells to place in front of him and he swore that he could watch Kihyun all day.

They had moved to a small cove that was segregated from the rest of the beach. Kihyun had led him there to allow him to dry off as well as to enable him to talk to Kihyun whilst he swam around freely. Hoseok had so many questions he wanted to ask but he decided on the most obvious one.

“Kihyun?” he asked, as the other boy paused to look at him with a soft hum. “What exactly are you?”

“I’m a merperson.”

“I assumed so, but you’re half human half-?”

“Half fish?” Kihyun gave him an incredulous look.

“I- I know that,” Hoseok struggled to figure out how to phrase his question. “What type of fish are you a part of?”

“Oh! I’m part shark!”

Kihyun had puffed up his chest with pride as he exclaimed it. The red-haired boy beamed at Hoseok, eyes turning into crescents. Hoseok didn’t have the heart to tell Kihyun that he was far too adorable to be part shark when a certain memory resurfaced.

Hoseok paled.

“Please don’t tell me you have a fin.”

“I do!” Kihyun responded brightly. “How did you know?”

Hoseok froze.

“I’m just really good at guessing?” Hoseok hoped that Kihyun couldn’t hear the way his voice wavered at the end.

The relief he felt was instantaneous when the unassuming boy simply nodded in agreement. And Hoseok couldn’t help but stare at the way the sun casted shades of orange and red across Kihyun’s face.

It was only then that he became aware of the sun was slowly growing closer to the horizon and he knew he had to excuse himself for the night. Kihyun followed him back to the area of the beach where they had first met and made Hoseok promise to visit him the next day.

“Build a sandcastle with me tomorrow?” he asked, looking up at Hoseok with a glint in his eyes. “I bet mine will be better than yours.”

“You’re on.”

 

 

 

If Hoseok learned anything over the time he spent with Kihyun, it would be that the merman was awful at making sandcastles.

It wasn’t that his sandcastles looked terrible; in fact, Hoseok thought they were works of art. The only problem with them was that not a single one of them lasted long enough for Hoseok to admire. Every time Kihyun tried to get close to his creation, his movement in the water would cause a surge of it to flow forwards, washing away his sandcastle in the process.

They had met up in the same cove and he watched as a pout formed on Kihyun’s face as he tried to salvage the remnants of his sandcastle to no avail. The red-haired boy looked over at Hoseok’s mediocre attempt at making a sandcastle (which looked more like a mound of sand than anything else) and sighed, obviously frustrated at his lack of success.

“You seem to really like building sandcastles,” Hoseok prompted, trying to temporarily distract the boy, who brightened up at Hoseok’s words.

“I do,” he replied with a small smile. “In a way, I suppose they remind me of humans.”

Hoseok couldn’t help but feel intrigued by Kihyun’s answer, and tilted his head, waiting for Kihyun to elaborate. 

“Everytime I tried to get closer to my sandcastles, they get swept away by the tide. The same thing happens every time I try to come over and say hello to your kind. They all run away.” Kihyun sighed, looking downcast.

“Eventually they stopped coming around at all. You were the first person I’d seen around in a long time and it felt like I was building a sandcastle for the first time. The same kind of feeling I had when I was naïve enough to think it would last. And maybe I had let myself hope that this sandcastle would be the one that was strong enough to withstand the waves. But you ran away too and I still don’t understand why.”

The pang of guilt hit Hoseok hard. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Kihyun’s feelings.

“Kihyun, I have a confession,” he began. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.” The merman narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Do you remember how I said I guessed that you had a fin?” A nod.

“It- it wasn’t a guess. I did see it yesterday and I didn’t want to tell you about it because it was the reason I ran away from you at first. And I think I might not be the only one who ran once they saw it.”

“What’s wrong with-”

“Nothing!” Hoseok interjected, trying his best to reassure Kihyun. “It’s just that you have a shark fin.”

Kihyun looked so bewildered and Hoseok could swear that he had never seen anything more adorable. “People don’t like sharks?”

“Not really,” Hoseok found himself saying.

“But why? I don’t even bite!”

“People don’t know that, Kihyun,” he replied. “We’re taught to fear sharks, so not many people would be brave enough to approach you.”

Hoseok saw the way Kihyun’s face fell and his heart sank with it. They sat together in silence for a moment before Kihyun finally spoke up.

“All I wanted was to get close to people, for them to like me,” Kihyun said softly, his voice almost inaudible. “And all this time, I never once considered that people were afraid of me.”

“People fear what they don’t know. And they didn’t let themselves get to know you.”

“But that doesn’t mean that you’re unapproachable,” Hoseok quickly added upon seeing how upset Kihyun began to look. “I’m sure people would enjoy being around you, _I_ love being around you. It’s not your fault they never tried.”

He knew the merman had no control over his form and he felt for him. He didn’t think anyone deserved to feel abandoned for merely existing, especially someone as pure as Kihyun.

The sound of sniffling snapped him out of his thoughts and he was faced with a teary-eyed Kihyun. Without hesitation, Hoseok slid himself closer to the other boy and wrapped his arms around him.

“You’re the only one who’s ever stayed, the only person who’s ever been nice to me. I don’t know what I would do if you were to go.” His voice cracked slightly at the end, mild anguish slipping into his tone. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to leave too.”

Hoseok so badly wanted to promise that he could stay but he knew that he couldn’t. He had to be realistic. He was leaving at the end of the day and he wasn’t willing to make a promise to Kihyun that he couldn’t keep.

But he felt as if something was tugging at his heartstrings, a part of him that was holding him back. As much as he had to return home, he didn’t want to leave Kihyun either.

“Hey, look at me,” Hoseok gently cupped Kihyun’s face in his hands. “I have to go but I’ll come back for you in a week. I know it sounds like a long time, but if you spend that time thinking about what we can do when I come back, I guarantee that it’ll go by really fast.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Yes.”

Kihyun reluctantly let Hoseok go with a forlorn look on his face.

“Smile for me,” Hoseok called out to Kihyun as he walked away. “I want to be able to remember it so I’ll have something to look forward to.”

He does, and Hoseok wanted it to be permanently tattooed in his mind.

(Hoseok was beyond elated to see that very smile the following week as Kihyun practically yanked him into the water.

“You came back!”

“I promised I would.”)

 

 

 

One weekend turned into two and Hoseok found himself consistently setting aside time to travel down to the seaside, just to meet Kihyun. There was something so magnetic about the other boy and Hoseok couldn’t help but feel drawn in to him.

The sound of Minhyuk calling his name drew him out of his reverie. “Were you even listening to anything I was saying?”

“Sorry,” Hoseok replied. “I was just thinking about things. What were you asking me about again?”

“He was asking if everything was alright,” Hyungwon said, voice laced with concern. “We’ve never seen you this distracted before.”

“Not to mention how you’ve been sneaking out every weekend at the crack of dawn too,” Minhyuk added pointedly. Upon seeing Hoseok’s shocked expression, he continued, “You’re not subtle. It’s impossible to not notice when you practically slam the door shut behind you.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t re-” Hoseok tried to explain himself when Minhyuk interrupted him.

“So who’s the guy?”

“What?” Hoseok spluttered out. His friends exchanged a look before turning back to him.

“You’re so easy to read,” Minhyuk said. “We’ve caught you staring off into space with this ridiculously star stuck look on your face _way_ too often. And you only ever do this when you have a crush on someone, so spill.”

“Fine,” Hoseok finally gave in. “I did meet someone there, but I don’t have a crush on him. We’re just friends.”

He tried his best to ignore the knowing looks his friends gave him, but in truth, he wasn’t sure if he believed his own words. Hoseok had only known Kihyun for slightly more than a month but the merman had grown on him. He did see the other boy as a friend but saying that Kihyun was _‘just a friend’_ didn’t feel right.

Kihyun was comfortable, he was so familiar and he made Hoseok feel content. But he also couldn’t deny the way the boy made his heart skip a few beats with every passing moment that he spent with him.

(He couldn’t ignore how Kihyun had painstakingly carved his name into the walls of his heart with gentle touches and melodic laughs)

 

 

 

“You’re staring.”

Hoseok found himself looking into Kihyun’s eyes, drowning in the golden flecks. Ever since his conversation with his friends, he began to realise how he latched onto every little thing the red-haired boy did, like he was the most fascinating creature in the entire universe.

Kihyun was blushing again, as he often did whenever he caught Hoseok looking at him. A small smile was plastered on his face as he asked, “Why do you look at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you might actually li-” Kihyun paused, smile dimming slightly. “I- I’m probably overthinking things. Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“Don’t worry,” Hoseok replied, resting his hand on the merman’s shoulder. “You can tell me whenever you’re ready.” Kihyun bit down on his bottom lip, seemingly at war with himself.

“I don’t want to say it because I’m so scared I’ll get my hopes up and it’ll be for nothing.”

Hoseok was stunned by the other boy’s sudden confession. His heart began to race in his chest. “What are you hoping for?”

“You’ll probably think I’m a fool for wanting this,” Kihyun answered. “But I really like you. And all I’m hoping for is that you’d feel the same way about me. Your eyes say you do but…” he trailed off, dejection seeping into his tone.

Hoseok felt nothing but pure adoration for the boy at that moment. He held Kihyun’s hands in his and marvelled at the way they fit perfectly together. As he looked down at the beautiful boy before him, he had never been more sure of his feelings.

“I like you too,” he grinned, moving his hands to Kihyun’s waist, gently lifting him onto the sand. The merman’s eyes widened and before Hoseok could say anything, Kihyun began to cry. 

“Oh baby,” Hoseok pulled him close to his chest. “Why are you crying?”

“I’m just so happy,” Kihyun managed to make out in between sniffles, resting his head against Hoseok’s neck. “You make me so happy.” 

 

 

 

(“Kihyun?” he asked. The other boy hummed in response.

“Have you ever been kissed before?”

“No,” Kihyun replied, looking deep in thought. A grin crept onto his face.

“But maybe you could be my first?”)

**Author's Note:**

> because we all need sharki in our lives
> 
> feel free to leave a comment or kudos aaaa ♡  
> you can also yell at me on twt @prettaeu


End file.
